Featured Upswing Poker pro Doug Polk (aka WCGRider) is vying for his second career World Series of Poker bracelet this afternoon at the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Entering Day 3 action, Polk is 8th in chips with just over 700k (Blinds: 6k/12k/2k) with 26 players remaining. The final table will play out until a winner is declared later today — first place in the $3,000 buy-in NLHE 6-max Event #21 will pay $531,557.

We know Upswing Poker fans have missed the site’s headline pro on-stream this week, and are rooting for the high stakes cash game specialist to capture his second career WSOP bracelet tonight. For that reason, we had a quick chat with Doug as he made the short drive to his destination just before 12:00 Noon Pacific Time Thursday.

The following is a transcript from that interview.

Doug Polk Interview – June 16 @ 11:50am PST

Team Upswing: Congratulations on your deep run in today’s event. How has your morning been?

Doug Polk: I feel pretty good. I was a little disappointed yesterday that two of my closest friends busted simultaneously during the last three hands. The equity of the team definitely took a big hit there. Someone decided to take a pretty ridiculous stand with 6-2 suited and Jason Mo had Kings and left the tournament with that for 37 big blinds. Jason Les ran Queens into Kings, so today only I’m going to be waving the Evil Empire flag.

Waking up before a big tournament feels like you’re a kid during Christmas. I have a hard time sleeping, I wake up early and I’m excited for my tournament. Today, I woke up early, hit the gym and did some chest-work and just got ready for the day. I’m excited to be here and am ready to play for the Bracelet.

Team Upswing: Who will be rooting you on if you continue to progress to the final table?

Doug Polk: There’s going to be a stark contrast this year compared to the final table I played two years ago when I won the $1k NLHE Turbo. My friends had actually bet against me to win a bracelet in 2014. So they were at the final table going nuts, yelling from the rafters. It was kind of funny given it was a $1k Turbo event. I think the game plan today is that everyone will make their way down to the Rio and come sweat if I make the final table.

Team Upswing: What can you tell us about the atmosphere at this year’s WSOP?

Doug Polk: It’s always a zoo, yet it’s been very cool because of all the Upswing Poker fans I’ve run into. Sometimes I’m walking around here at the Rio and will spot someone wearing an Upswing t-shirt, and I always make a point to go up, introduce myself and say hello if they’re not busy. There is definitely a lot of Upswing support here. It’s been fantastic, and I’m hoping to see plenty of subscribers and fans making their mark on this year’s Series.

Team Upswing: What are your thoughts on the remaining field going into Day 3?

Doug Polk: I feel pretty good. The field looks relatively soft which is one of the best parts of playing in these lower buy-in bracelet events. You tend to have a softer “down-the-stretch” field compared to events like the $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl earlier this month.

This event attracted more than 1,000 entrants, so generally speaking the final few tables are going to be a decent amount softer than a high stakes tournament. There are still some marquee names remaining — Daniel Negreanu, Mark Herm, and others — but I feel very happy about the field.

In fact, I got a great table draw. Somehow I’m slightly over average in chips but I’m still the biggest chip stack at my table by a lot. So I’m happy I get to start as chip leader at my table. I’m looking forward to playing well and am hoping to run well too!

Take It Down, Doug!

With a final table appearance, Polk is guaranteed to eclipse $5 million in career live poker tournament cashes according to The Hendon Mob.

You can keep up with the latest updates by following Doug Polk on Twitter. @DougPolkPoker

David Huber (known as “dhubermex” online) has been involved in the poker industry for more than a decade. He currently assists several poker and gaming entities as a researcher, writer, and consultant. Former Editor-in-Chief & Head Moderator of online tournament rankings site PocketFives (2006-2011).